Practical J2EE Application Architecture

An information architect is a specialist who has the following focus:

• Creating a persona of the site's user base and tailoring the site to meet the needs of its audience.

• Devising schemes for organizing and labeling content. This effort results in the creation of a content taxonomy.

• Providing the access path to information from various touch points. This effort results in the creation of a navigation taxonomy.

• Spearheading the creation of a mockup UI; working with stakeholders and focus groups to refine the usability aspects of the site.

• Creating an information architecture style guide that controls the evolution of the site according to well-established guidelines.

For information architects to be successful in their efforts, they need the assistance of subject matter experts, business analysts, technology teams, graphics designers, and content editors.

• Subject matter experts and business analysts provide the business knowledge with related information to be made available in the site. They provide the context and significance of the information, and its impact to the business and to the information consumers.

• A representative from the technology team, usually the application architect, validates completeness of the information exchanged between the application and the user, assesses consistency in accessing information from multiple touch points, validates the transactional semantics, and generally comments on the technical complexity or risks associated with the recommended information architecture.

• Graphic designers provide the site with a consistent look and feel that represents the site's purpose and its identity. They prepare a style guide for ensuring consistent evolution of the site. With assistance from marketing, graphic designers also create the branding of the site.

• Content editors create guidelines for ensuring a consistent voice and tone in the creation of the site's content. Content editors may also perform copy editing and proofreading tasks, and be responsible for creating an editorial calendar.

In the entire information architecture process, two most significant aspects need to be constantly monitored by the project manager. These are expressed as follows:

• The site's functionality as expressed by the information architecture and its constituent mockup UI must be in line with the use case summary. The use case summary scopes the system, and any deviation from this could be considered as scope change. When scope changes occur, the use cases should be retrofitted and redistributed to stakeholders for consensus.

• The user interface is the most volatile component of the system; applications are always architectured with this awareness. However, once the development process begins, the information architecture cannot evolve radically to significantly change the transactional semantics, the business logic, or the functional requirements; the consequences of this are severe in terms of rework, cost escalation, and delivery schedule. Information architecture plays a significant role, although not the only role, in nailing down the behavior of the system; therefore, this process cannot be taken lightly.